FORMOST

Field observation and modelling of the sediment triad

The NERC FORMOST project is a collaborative venture between Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and Bangor University.

It brings together modellers and process scientists, with the aim of exploiting recent advances in observational capabilities to validate key local modelling concepts. The improved models will be parameterised to provide robust process-scale formulations for use within larger coastal area modelling systems.

Sediment transport can be thought of as arising from three interacting components, namely the mobile sediment itself, the bedforms and the forcing hydrodynamics. This triad is explained in the diagram below. For example, vortex generation due to flow over ripples on the sea-bed can have a significant influence on the suspension of sediment. Further, the shape of the ripples contributes to the overall flow resistance, and hence to the flow structure in the boundary layer. Yet the ripples themselves are a product of the local sediment transport. This triad of interactions and feedbacks has to be measured simultaneously, both temporally and spatially, in order to understand the fundamental processes of sediment transport.

Participants

Proudman Laboratory	Bangor University
Dr. Laurent Amoudry	Dr. Jaco H. Baas
Dr. Paul S. Bell	Prof. Alan G. Davies (PI)
Dr. Rodolfo Bolanos	Dr. Colin F. Jago
Dr. Alejandro J. Souza	Dr Sarah Jones
Prof. Peter D. Thorne	Dr. Jonathan Malarkey
Dr. Judith Wolf

End Users Represented

Countryside Council for Wales (CCW)
Environment Agency (EA)
Electricité de France/Laboratoire National d'Hydraulique (EDF/LNH)